Connecter for electrical conductors



Man ch 16,1926. 1,577,123

1 W. C. HUNT CONNECTER FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS Filed June 19, 192

INVENTEIR' Patented Mar. 16, 1926.

1,571,123 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. HUNT, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.-

CONNECTER FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS.

Application filed June 19, 1924. Serial No. 720,892.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM C. HUNT, of the city of Toronto, in the county of York, Province of Ontario, Canada, a British subject, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Connectors for Electrical Conductors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices used for,

connecting electric conductors to take the place of soldering and other permanent con- .nectlons. I/Vlnle connecters for tlns purpose have previously been devised, most of them are ofsuch a nature that the connection is easily tampered with; There is now a tend- 1 ency in some localities to prohibit the doing of electrical work by anyone but qualified electricians, and therefore any connector which is easily removed by an unauthorized person is objectionable.

My object therefore is to devise a connecter which may be quickly and. easily placed in position, in which the conductors will be securely held, which will be thoroughly insulated, which will comprise a minimum number of parts and therefore simple and cheap to manufacture, and yet which will be difiicult for a person without a knowledge of its workings, to remove.

I attain my object by means of the constructions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which i Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of my connecter showing a pair of conductors connected; and

Fig. 2 a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

'1 is the body of the connector, in one end of which is formed a deep recess 2 in which the bared ends of the conductors are received. The ends of the conductors are preferably twisted together before being inserted in the recess. To retain the ends of the conductors in the recess a set screw 3 is threaded through an opening formed in the side of'the body, and the conductors are held firmly against the opposite side of the recess by suitably screwing down the screw 3. To better ensure that the conductors will not pullout, I preferably corrugate at least that portion of the interior of the recess opposite the opening for the screw 3. I find,

however, that the simplest method of formmg these corrugations is to form a screw thread on the interior of the recess. It Will thus be seen that there is little danger of the conductors becoming disengaged.

To insulate the connector I provide the cap 4 of insulating material, which fits over the body 1 and is of sufficient length to protect any bare wire not received in the recess 2. a

The cap is held in place as follows. At opposite sides of the body are formed grooves S), which grooves are connected at the unrecessed end of the body by means of a passage 6 a U-shapcd retainer preferably formed of spring wire, which is supported in the passage 5, the legs normally lying partially in the grooves!) and partially extending. out of the groove beyond the periphery of the body. The interior surface of the cap is provided with an annular groove or recess 7 in which the ends of the legs of the retainer 6 are adapted to engage, and the withdrawal of'the cap in a direction away from the conductors is thus prevented.

It will thus be seen that if the cap be made of integral construction that it cannot be removed without the aid of a special tool to disengage the ends of the legs of the retainer 6 from the groove 7 and force them into the grooves 9. Preferably therefore I form the head 8 of the cap as a separate part, the interior of the main part of the cap being threaded so that the head may be screwed therein.

The device is used as follows. The ends of the conductors to be connected, having had the insulation removed therefrom, are twisted together and then inserted in the recess 2. The set screw 3 is then screwed down to clamp the conductors between the end of thescrew and the opposite side of the recess. The cap is then slipped over the body until the ends of the legs of the retainer engage in the groove 7.

If it is desired to remove the connecter, the head 8 of the cap is removed, and the main part of the cap slipped up on to the conductors until the body is exposed, when the screw 3 may be loosened to disengage the conductors.

The body member will usually be formed of metal, although it will be understood that-it may be made, if desired, of insulating material.

From the above description it will be seen that I have devised a construction which is extremely difficult to remove, unless one had knowledge of the step of slipping the cap further up on the conductors, and which therefore attains the object of my invention as'set out inthe preamble of-this specification.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In a connecter fen electrical conductors, the combination of a body member in which the ends of the conductors may be secured; a cap adapted to be sleeved over the body member, said body member having grooves formed at opposite sides thereof and a passage connecting said grooves and said cap having a recess formed in its interior surface; and a U-shaped spring retainer extending throu 11 said assage, the legs of the retainer lying partially in the grooves and their ends normally engaging in said recess to prevent the separation of the ca and body member in a direction away rom the conductors.

2. In a connecter for electrical conductors, the combination of a body member in which the ends of the conductors may be secured; a cap adapted to be sleeved over the body member; said body member having a transverse opening terminating in longitudinally disposed grooves and said cap having a recess in its contacting face; and a U-shaped spring retaining member mounted in said opening and grooves, and normally tending to extend into said recess to positively prevent the separation of the body member and cap in a direction away from the conductors, said cap being formed with a removable head, whereby when the head is removed the remainder of the cap may be slipped over the which the ends of the conductors may be secured; a cap adapted to be sleeved over the body member, said body member having grooves formed at opposite sides thereof and a passage connecting said grooves and said cap having a recess formed in its interior surface; and a U-shaped spring re-v tainer extending throu 11 said assage, the legs of the retainer lyingpartially in the grooves and their ends normally engagin in said recess to prevent the separation o the cap and body member in a direction away from the conductors, said cap being formed with a removable head.

4. In a connecter for electrical conductors, the combination of a body member having a recess into which the ends of the conductors may be inserted; a set screw threaded through the wall of said body 'member adapted to clamp the ends of the conductors in position; a cap member adapted to be sleeved over the body member, one of said members having a recess formed in its contacting face; a spring retaining member mounted on the other of said members tending to extend into said recess to positively prevent the separation of the body member and cap member in a direction away from the conductors, said cap being formed with a removable head wherebywhen the head is removed the remainder of the cap maybe slipped over the body member on to the conductors to nermit access to the set screw.

Signed at Toronto, Canada, this 2nd day of June, 1924.

WILLIAM C. HUNT. 

